On Monday evening, Russell Westbrook and the Los Angeles Clippers dropped to a disappointing record of 7-9 on the young 2023-24 NBA season with an embarrassing home loss to the Denver Nuggets. Normally, losing to the reigning NBA champion Nuggets would not be a major cause of concern; however, on Monday, Denver was without three of its starters in Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray, and Aaron Gordon, and a fully healthy Clippers squad was still unable to capitalize on the advantageous circumstances, losing by a final score of 113-104.

One occurrence that grabbed a lot of headlines from the game was a back and forth between Westbrook and a fan sitting near the court, who shouted at one another at one point while a play was going on and then continuing on the dead ball.

On Tuesday, ESPN NBA insider Kendrick Perkins addressed the incident and why he views Westbrook as being in the wrong for what transpired.

“I have a problem with that, and it's not with the fan. It's actually with Russ,” said Perkins on ESPN's NBA Today. “The problem is that he should be having a verbal altercation with his teammates, because if you're a Clippers fan, you should be frustrated, especially after that loss last night. I mean, Reggie Jackson and DeAndre Jordan were looking like Kobe and Shaq in 2000.”

It's possible that some of Westbrook's willingness to vent at a fan was due to the frustrations unfolding on the Crypto.com Arena court. Up next for the Clippers is a road game against the Sacramento Kings on November 29.